The United States Olympic Committee unintentionally offended thousands, if not millions, of people this week – and potentially dangerous people, too, considering they wield long, sharp sticks — when it sent a letter to a knitting Web site asking that it stop using the term ‘Ravelympics’ for a contest it planned to hold in conjunction with the London Olympics.

“We believe using the name ‘Ravelympics’ for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among anothers, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games,” said the U.S.O.C.’s letter to Casey Forbes, co-founder of the knitting Web site Ravelry.com. “In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.”

The U.S.O.C.’s relationship with knitters, crocheters and yarn spinners worldwide began to unravel from there, creating a public relations fiasco less than a month before the Olympics.